In February 2009, shortly after the end of the Israeli military assault on Gaza (Operation Cast Lead), the WHO office for West Bank and Gaza commissioned a consultant bio-medical engineer to carry out a study of the state of medical equipment in Gaza’s hospitals. This reflected long-standing concerns about the lack of medical equipment and the poor maintenance and functionality of the equipment that was available. WHO was also aware of the large volumes of donated equipment that had been delivered to Gaza during the war. The aim of the consultancy was to provide an overall assessment of the situation and of the main deficiencies of the system, to identify the main factors that were responsible for the deficiencies and to make recommendations on what could be done about them. This report is a summary of the findings